23 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.emcon.2015.10.001 English eng Layla Salih Al-Omran Contributor <p><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(31, 31, 31); font-family: ElsevierGulliver, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, STIXGeneral, "Cambria Math", "Lucida Sans Unicode", "Microsoft Sans Serif", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Arial Unicode MS", serif, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Concentrations of <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/pbde" class="topic-link" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(31, 31, 31); --sd-arp-topic-annotations-text-colour: #1f1f1f; --sd-arp-topic-annotations-hover-text-decoration-colour: #eb6500; --sd-arp-topic-annotations-focus-outline-colour: #eb6500; text-decoration: underline 1px rgb(31, 31, 31); text-underline-offset: 1px;">polybrominated diphenyl ethers</a> (PBDEs) and selected novel brominated </span><a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/pharmacology-toxicology-and-pharmaceutical-science/flame-retardant" class="topic-link" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(31, 31, 31); --sd-arp-topic-annotations-text-colour: #1f1f1f; --sd-arp-topic-annotations-hover-text-decoration-colour: #eb6500; --sd-arp-topic-annotations-focus-outline-colour: #eb6500; text-decoration: underline 1px rgb(31, 31, 31); text-underline-offset: 1px; font-family: ElsevierGulliver, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, STIXGeneral, "Cambria Math", "Lucida Sans Unicode", "Microsoft Sans Serif", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Arial Unicode MS", serif, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">flame retardants</a><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(31, 31, 31); font-family: ElsevierGulliver, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, STIXGeneral, "Cambria Math", "Lucida Sans Unicode", "Microsoft Sans Serif", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Arial Unicode MS", serif, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> (NBFRs) were measured in indoor dust from the living areas of 18 homes in Basrah, Iraq. This is the first report of contamination of the Iraqi environment with these chemicals. To evaluate the implications for human exposure, samples were collected from both the floor and from elevated surfaces like tables, shelves and chairs. When normalised for the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/organic-carbon" class="topic-link" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(31, 31, 31); --sd-arp-topic-annotations-text-colour: #1f1f1f; --sd-arp-topic-annotations-hover-text-decoration-colour: #eb6500; --sd-arp-topic-annotations-focus-outline-colour: #eb6500; text-decoration: underline 1px rgb(31, 31, 31); text-underline-offset: 1px;">organic carbon</a><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> content of the dust sample, concentrations in elevated surface dust of BDE-99, BDE-209, pentabromoethylbenzene (PBEB), bis (2-ethylhexyl) 3,4,5,6-tetrabromophthalate (BEH-TEBP), and decabromodiphenylethane (DBDPE) exceeded significantly (p < 0.05) those in floor dust from the same rooms. This suggests that previous studies that <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/pharmacology-toxicology-and-pharmaceutical-science/base" class="topic-link" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(31, 31, 31); --sd-arp-topic-annotations-text-colour: #1f1f1f; --sd-arp-topic-annotations-hover-text-decoration-colour: #eb6500; --sd-arp-topic-annotations-focus-outline-colour: #eb6500; text-decoration: underline 1px rgb(31, 31, 31); text-underline-offset: 1px;">base</a> estimates of adult exposure via dust </span></span><a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-sciences/ingestion" class="topic-link" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(31, 31, 31); --sd-arp-topic-annotations-text-colour: #1f1f1f; --sd-arp-topic-annotations-hover-text-decoration-colour: #eb6500; --sd-arp-topic-annotations-focus-outline-colour: #eb6500; text-decoration: underline 1px rgb(31, 31, 31); text-underline-offset: 1px;">ingestion</a> on floor dust, may underestimate exposure. Such underestimation is less likely for toddlers who are far more likely to ingest floor dust. Concentrations of PBDEs and NBFRs in indoor dust from Basrah, Iraq are at the lower end of levels reported elsewhere. The PBDE contamination pattern in our samples suggests that use in Iraq of the Deca-BDE formulation, exceeds substantially that of Penta-BDE, but that use of the Octa-BDE formulation has been higher in Iraq than in some other regions. Reassuringly, our estimates of exposure to our target BFRs via dust ingestion for the Iraqi population fall well below the relevant health-based limit values.</span></p> Elsevier March 2026 pdf Journal of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology Polybrominated diphenyl ethers and “novel” brominated flame retardants in floor and elevated surface house dust from Iraq: Implications for human exposure assessment mixed material Elsevier